Afterlife
by Insanity-5pak
Summary: Jeremy has an experience with death he'll never forget.


Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko. Or heaven.

**Afterlife**

Note: This is from Jeremy's point of view.

I sat at my desk, finishing up my homework. I checked over all the problems before putting my books away and turning to my computer. I opened up my files and began work researching Aelita's anti-virus. So far, I had I made absolutely no progress on the anti-virus. My nerves were beginning to wear thin by now, and I was becoming rather irritable. I knew that if I just took a day or two off, got some sleep, and rested up I would fill fine, but I just kept working. Not even 10 minutes had past before a red exclamation mark jumped up on the screen. Xana had decided to once again grace us with his presence. I sighed and rubbed my forehead before reaching for my cell phone. I typed in the usual message and sent it to everyone, then I stood up and left the room. I half wondered what Xana had done now, but I was too annoyed to really care. It was already taking me forever to make any real progress in anything involving Lyoko, let alone without having to deal with Xana's constant attacks. I walked through the school in a foul mood before I reached to school yard and saw everyone outside, waiting on me. I said, "Ok, let's go."

They must have heard the annoyance in my voice because Odd said, "What's wrong with you?"

We started towards the factory and I said, "Well I'm getting tired of all of this work. I mean, I stay up all night working on Aelita's anti-virus, along with half a dozen other things, and with school, and Xana constantly interrupting me, I'm really running low on energy."

Aelita said, "Jeremy, why don't you take a vacation? Just relax for a few days and don't work on any of those projects. If you just get a good night's sleep, everything will be alright."

I looked at her rather hard and answered, "I can't just quit. The sooner I get all of this done, the sooner we can be rid of Xana. I'm not taking a vacation until Xana's gone."

Aelita looked slightly hurt and replied, "I'm not asking you to quit, just take a break. I didn't mean anything by it Jeremy."

I didn't take any notice of Aelita's concern and just said, "Just let me finish and we can put all of this behind us."

For a moment the conversation was over, but then after a minute Urlich said, "Well Jeremy, why don't you get Odd to teach you how to sleep in class? He's a pro at it."

Odd smiled and said, "Yeah, strong words from the guy who's making worse grades than me."

Everyone laughed, except me. I just snapped, "Ok, can we drop it?"

Everyone stopped laughing and Odd said, "Hey chill out Jeremy, we were just joking."

I was really getting mad that they wouldn't let something so simply go, and said, "Well how about we just stop joking around for a while ok?"

Aelita was apparently growing annoyed by my own grouchiness and said, "Ok Jeremy, we'll stop but you don't have to be so mad, we're only trying to cheer you up."

By now we had reached the factory and I was about to open the door. I replied, "I don't need cheering up, ok? Listen, how about we just take this seriously, instead of acting like this is all one big joke?"

Aelita was growing mad and said to me, "Why don't you stop acting like a jerk to your friends?"

I was about to answer her, but as I raised the door to the factory, something shot out from within it! I heard Odd scream in pain, and saw him fly backwards. I turned in the direction of where the thing had come from and saw a Crab standing in front of me! It used its massive claws to rip the door completely open. I stumbled backwards in shock, and it raised one of its claws, ready to strike. I tried to move but I wasn't fast enough. I hardly had time to be afraid before I felt the razor sharp appendage rip through my clothing and skin. Everything changed then. Before the blow was even completely dealt, I knew I was dead. I felt my heart and lungs rip and tear against the power of the monster. My body didn't stand a chance of surviving. The Crab threw me to the ground, and I laid on my back, staring up into the sky. My vision was fading quickly, and the noise around me was becoming muffled. I was losing feeling all over my body as well. I was dying. I saw Aelita, as if in the distance, bend over me and say something. I'm not sure what she said. My eyes stopped working and everything went black. I heard one last, muffled scream before my world fell into a complete numb, black, silence. It was over. I was dead.

It's… strange how the human mind works. One instance, one second can change the way you look at the world. One minute you may be the happiest man on earth, and the next… everything you love is gone. One minute, you may hate those around, and the next realize their importance to you. But the sad part is, most of these revelations come at a cost… a heavy one. I was dead. Gone. I didn't exist anymore. And only now did I see so many things I had missed. In just a few seconds my entire world changed completely. My anger and frustration… gone. My heart was no longer burdened by anger; no… it was burdened by nothing now. Everything was gone, my friends, my family, my life… none of it mattered anymore. No, that's not true… I still cared about my friends. I still worried about them. But I could no longer do anything for them. My purpose in life was finished, and I was no longer a part of their world. I wonder if what I felt… lying there in that emptiness, was anything like what Aelita had felt before. She had once not been a part of our world. Was this in any way similar to how she had once felt… coming into a world thatyou don't belong in. My heart called out to my friends. I had to know if they were ok. What had that blast done to Odd? Was he floating in this nothingness just like me? Was Aelita still kneeling over me, crying or screaming? Was she fighting to live… to save her friends? Was Urlich protecting her, was he protecting Odd? He didn't… he couldn't protect me. No one could. Was Yumi there with him? Was she saving those left from that monster? Was she avenging me, killing my killer? I wanted to know, but I knew I would not receive any answers to my questions. Ever.

I laid there in the darkness… for an eternity. Seconds past, and I felt as if I had aged a life time lying there in the dark. But I knew that time no longer matter, now that I had run out of it. Suddenly, I felt something. Just as soon as the blackness had overtaken me, it began to disappear. I felt something against my back. My hearing seemed to be returning. But there was something else. My mind was changing. I was thinking… but in a different way. It was as if every negative thing a human could possibly think was gone, completely driven from my mind. I felt no anger, no worry, no fear. Only curiosity, security, and a strange happiness. Then all of a sudden, light flooded my eyes. But the sudden light did not hurt me or blind me in anyway. It felt… good, actually. I noticed that I was lying on my back, staring into a sky. But it was no sky visible on Earth. It was like looking into the most crystal clear, blue lake imaginable. There was no sun, but light seemed to come from every direction. There wasn't a single cloud to be seen. I moved my hands and felt something like sand move through my fingers. I looked and saw that it was sand, but it was not scratchy and sticky. It was smooth, fine, and a brilliant gold-brown color. It was like lying on gold dust. I heard the sound of waves and stood up to gaze about me. The sight I saw was… unimaginable. I was standing on a beach, the largest beach I had ever been on. To call the beach crowded may not be far from the truth, but to call it full would be dead wrong. The beach seemed to stretch for miles and miles, farther than my eyes could see. There were many people, thousands, millions of people on the beach, but the beach could easily hold millions more. It was so huge and vast that I'm sure no amount of people could completely fill it up. I looked to my right, and off in the distance stood a city. I could not make out many details about it, but I could tell it was the most magnificent city I had ever seen. I felt as if I knew what that city was and why it was so magnificent. A glow seemed to radiate from its walls, and the light that filled this place seemed to emanate from within the city itself. I turned around and gazed out into the ocean behind me. The water of the ocean was so clear and beautiful; it resembled a sea of emeralds and sapphires instead of an ocean of water. The closest people to me were three young children. They were splashing around in the surf, wrestling I believe. But no matter what they did, no matter how long they stayed under the ocean, they were not hurt. I saw them zipping around under the water like dolphins, their mouths open, laughing and shouting. At times one of them would leap an enormous distance into the air, and fall back into the waters below, causing a large splash, bowling his friends over. It was an incredible sight.

I was so shocked by my surroundings that I didn't notice anyone near me until a voice said, "Quite beautiful, eh?"

I turned to see a man standing there. He was dressed in white clothing, much like a robe, but it seemed even more comfortable than a robe. He seemed very old, but his appearance was that of a man of 20 or so. He looked at me and smiled saying, "I would call it breath taking, but I suppose that term no longer applies to you, right?"

I realized what he meant. I was, of course, no longer breathing, so there was no breath to take away. The man looked out at the ocean and said, "I remember when I first saw it. It's just as beautiful now as it was then."

For a moment the man stood there, silent. Even though I felt content and my mind was at rest, I still wanted to ask the man something.

"Where… am I?"

The man looked at me and said, "Why do you ask? Do you really need to be told where you are? If you want a name, you may call this place the Distant Shore. That's what many people call it. The city," he pointed towards the city in the distance, "has many names as well. You are aware of your current condition, right?"

I guessed he meant my being dead, so I nodded and said, "So this is… heaven?"

The man smiled and said, "Well, if this is Hell, then I certainly can't imagine what heaven really is."

It still didn't seem real, the fact that I was dead now. Especially since I had never felt more alive. The man seemed to guess what I was thinking and said, "I know the feeling. I've felt it before. Knowing that your body has died, and yet you're soul has reached an even higher peak of life; it's an experience one can never forget. And trust me; you will not forget this feeling until you return here. Even then… that feeling will remain with you forever."

I noticed when he said, "…until you return here." and asked what he meant. The man said, "Oh well you're not truly dead yet. I mean, yes, you died, but you're not through living just yet. Call this a… break, an intervention maybe. You still have much to do in life; this is just a sort of pause in the performance."

I didn't understand so I asked, "But why am I here if I'm not done living?"

The man seemed slightly confused and asked, "Where else would you rather be Jeremy?"

I didn't take any notice to the fact that he knew my name; something told me it was ok. I just asked, "No where, I'm just confused that's all. I mean, why did I come here if there's no reason?"

The man smiled at me again before saying, "There are many things in life that happen for seemingly no reason, Jeremy. We can't always know why something happened, but we can always take comfort in the fact that there is a reason behind everything. Your coming here was for a reason. Maybe it was to give you strength to accomplish something further down the road in life. Maybe it was to help you correct a critical mistake you have made. I don't know the reason Jeremy, I'm not the one who brought you here. You are the only one who can find out why this happened."

I was rather happy with his answer but I had another question to ask him, "How do you know me, or that I'm still not done living?"

The man shrugged and said, "You know a lot of things here that you don't realize. When I saw you standing there, gazing at your surroundings, I just immediately knew all about your situation. I don't know anything beyond that. I don't know about your past or future or anything of that nature. I just knew, naturally, what was happening to you now. Sometimes Jeremy, you just have to accept things as they happen. You can't always ask why, you just need to have faith"

I nodded, accepting his answer. The man smiled at me again before saying, "I'll see you again one day Jeremy. After all… even here it's impossible to avoid someone for eternity."

I was about to say something, but suddenly everything went black. There was no light, no ocean, no sound of waves. I was once again in the numb, silent, darkness. Then I slowly began to regain my senses. It was not like when I awoke on the beach. It took some time for me to realize what was happening around me. I was lying on my back, with my head propped up on something. There was weight on my stomach, as if something was lying there. I could here a very distant sound, but I couldn't tell what it was. My vision was returning, but everything was dim and had no real shape or color to it. Slowly my body began working again. I could hear the sound much more clearly, and could tell that it was the sound of crying. I could see someone in front of me, their head lying on my stomach. They were crying. I could hear voices near by, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Slowly I could make out colors, and saw a large mass of pink in front of me. I could hear the person crying very clearly now. I could even pick up bits and pieces of the conversation going on else where.

"…don't know how long he'll last."

"It wasn't that strong of a… think she'll be ok?"

"Don't…"

The speakers were walking around, making it difficult to hear them, but I knew who it was. I knew who they were talking about and I knew who was lying in front of me. I could see clearly now, or as clearly as possible without glasses, and feeling had returned to my body. I was alive again, although now I could feel the sore pain I had forgotten about in my chest again. I could see the person in front of me clearly now. It was Aelita, as I had guessed by now, and she was crying into my shirt. I looked and saw that one of her legs had a huge gash in it. Blood covered both of our clothes. I guessed that by now she was very exhausted; mentally and physically. I couldn't see Urlich, Yumi, or Odd, but I could hear Urlich and Yumi talking near by. I looked around to try and see them, but I was leaning against a tree and couldn't turn all the way around. My chest was burning once again from my wound. My body was alive again, in all its earthly wonder, and I was once again allowed the honor of feeling pain and anguish flow through me. It also seemed as if something like a shadow moved into my mind. I dismissed the feeling, and looked down at Aelita. She looked as if she was barely awake. I now could see other scratches and burns covering her delicate skin. I wondered if it was she that had carried me here, and was now completely drained of energy. I felt sadness, guilt, and even fear for her safety enter my heart. I moved one of my hands. The movement was shaky and I felt weak, as if I had just woken up from a deep sleep but had regained no energy. I moved my hand onto her head, and felt her soft hair slide smoothly through my fingers. She didn't pay my touch any attention at first, then after a minute, she looked up. She was probably expecting to see Urlich or Yumi standing there, trying to help her. But then she noticed that there was no one there, and her eyes made their way to me. Our eyes met and for a moment, no one moved. She simply stared into my eyes, as if not believing that they were open. Then realization dawned on her, and she said, "Jer… Jeremy? You… you're…alive?"

I smiled at her and said in a groggy kind of voice, "Yeah… I'm ok."

She looked at me shocked for a second, but then her face lit up with joy and she leapt up and hugged me tightly. She began talking to me in a happy, energized voice, barely pausing to breath.

"I can't believe you're ok! Urlich said you were gone and I didn't know what to think! I was so scared and sad and… I just can't believe you're fine! URLICH, YUMI! Come here quick!"

Urlich and Yumi ran from behind the tree, prepared to fight, but when they saw what was happening, their faces lit up with happiness too. Urlich said, "Jeremy, is that you? I can't believe it… you're ok!"

Yumi came over and knelt down and said, "I can't believe this, it's a miracle!"

I smiled, glad to be able to see my friends again. But then I remembered Odd, and said, "Oh, wait, what about Odd? Is he ok?"

Once again I sucked all the happiness out of the moment, as everyone went from smiling and laughing to staring at the ground hesitantly. Yumi spoke up saying, "Well… he's ok. He's in a much better state than you were in, but… well he's lost a lot of blood. I'm… not sure if we can get him to a hospital in time."

I felt depressed by the news of Odd's condition, but I decided not to let myself lose a friend after having just been given another chance at life. I said to everyone, "Well, let's go."

Everyone looked at me confused and I just repeated, "Let's go. Come on, I'm fine now, I can help. Let's get Odd to a hospital or something. I don't want to survive death just to lose a friend."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and we started our journey to help Odd. He was in pretty bad shape. He had no color to his face, and his breathing was slow, but he was alive. Urlich and Yumi picked him up, and Aelita and I supported each other as we walked. It seemed to me that this one walk was longer than any distance I had ever traveled. The forest seemed to stretch the further we walked. Finally, I saw the school, and someone saw us. I'm not sure who it was that saw us and yelled for help, but the next few minutes went by in a flash. I remember teachers and students moving around us, then suddenly men dressed in white came in and began to get us into ambulances, even Urlich and Yumi. I subconsciously noticed how the paramedics white clothes didn't seem as comfortable as the robes the man on the beach had worn. I felt myself being led into an ambulance, and had paramedics examine me head to toe. I remember hearing something like, "I don't see how this one is even alive…" and other similar phrases fly by me as we rode to the hospital and were escorted in. I don't even recall what happened in the hospital. The next thing I remember is sitting in a room, bandages running all over my chest, waiting with the others to hear about Odd. A doctor came out and said to us, "Your friend will be alright. I don't know how you managed to do it, but you got him here just in time."

The next few days went by quickly, too. We managed to come up with a story about being attacked by an unknown man, who tried to rob us while we were away from school. Luckily, no one questioned us on Odd's severe burn wound. I found out that Urlich and Yumi had managed to stop the Crab while I was "away". Some how, in some way,Yumi had caused the factory door to come crashing down on the monster, crushing it. It seemed that Xana had only brought out one of the monsters, which was very lucky for us. We managed to clean up the door way to the factory, but it took quite a bit of time. In the end really, it was just like any other attack that had happened to us. But this one was different, for me at least. I told my friends about what had happened to me after I had died, and they seemed kind of shocked by it. It's not everyday one of your friends has a near death experience, or "survives" having his heart split open. Now, weeks later, everyone has forgotten about the attack but us. Like always, we're the only ones who really even remember what happened. But like the man told me, this is something that'll I'll never really forget. Ever.


End file.
